Of Discussions on Indians & Spilt Soda

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Tuesday found Mom packing for Frances and Linnea. As soon as Collette came over she saw that Frances was wearing his new muscle-man t-shirts, which Dad also pointed out later. He was very intent on growing up to be like Dad and to prepare for the army and battle and anything military. And so Collette was almost positive that he was in the process of convincing Mom to allow him to bring his guns on the trip.

And so Mom had all their clothes and articles set out on the bed preparing to pack the suitcases, while Carrie finished up papers for the week. And the temperature dropped as they watched the radar for in-coming ice and snow to determine whether or not the trip would be delayed. Snuggles chewed on Frances’ shorts (as both cats thought they were dogs), Rose painted her toenails and begged Collette for more strawberry bon-bons (which were Rose’s favorite) while watching a geometry lecture, and Carrie whined about having to get her bridesmaid dress fitted that afternoon for Paige Popp’s wedding.

“I just don’t think I can take it,” she said, on the verge of hyperventilating. “Paige will start to cry and then I know that Crystabelle will start the waterworks. And I, I just can’t do it. The emotional stuff – I just can’t do it!”

But she eventually left at 3:15 to get the job done and returned that evening with, yes, an account of tears and gowns and of the little old lady who owned the dress shop. And there was also news that Snuffy was to be the best man, although he was in Korea at the time (or somewhere overseas) and still had a wife and little girl to be thinking of before he came back for a wedding.

Later, Collette paused her own readings to color-pencil some Native American sketches in a coloring book with Linnea while Joe watched a lecture on Vikings with the teacher dressed up as a Norwegian warrior. And they talked about things.

“Collette?” Linnea was busy coloring a basket of fish. “Do you think the Indians knew it was wrong to run around naked?”

“I don’t think they thought it was wrong; that was just how they lived. They didn’t even think about it.”

“Oh… well, it’s sad that they’re all in hell now,” Linnea sighed, looking at the picture of the Indian woman on the page.

“Well, you don’t know that for sure. If God wanted to save some of them, he would. Nothing would stop Him.”

“Yeah, so it’s kind of like babies when they die? Like when Pharoah killed all those babies, did they all go to heaven?”

“We can’t know for sure, hon. Only God knows. We’re all born sinful, so they weren’t perfect babies.”

“But they hadn’t really sinned yet.”

“They were born sinful.”

“Man, it’s all Adam’s and Eve’s fault,” Linnea said matter-of-factly. “They ruined everything.”

“No, no,” Collette laughed. “They only represented us. They disobeyed God but it’s still our fault when we sin.”

“But why did they have to do it? Why did God have to make them sin?”

“God never makes anyone sin, Linnea. He lets them stay in sin.”

“But why did it have to happen? Oh, I know! Because then there wouldn’t need to be a heaven!”

“Well, yes. And then we wouldn’t see just how merciful God is, because He wouldn’t have to show His grace to them if they were perfect.”

And such were how conversations went with the kids.

At lunch, they were on old choir stories. It was amazing just how much Collette had already forgotten about the good old days, and Carrie related one of her angriest moments:

“I was outside with my friends and Peter decided to come by and throw an ice cube at me. And it didn’t really bother me that much, but I went inside and got a little water and I threw it at him. So then he goes and gets a whole bunch of water and throws it all over me. I was so mad, I started chasing him with my can of Dr. Pepper to throw on him. But then OLeif caught my wrist as I went by and it spilled all over me. And that was when I was really particular about what I was wearing. It was that orange American Eagle shirt that I got to make Kitts angry because she hated it when we wore the same thing. But I was so furious. And I took OLeif’s hair in my hand and I pulled as hard as I could!”

“Man, she pulled so hard,” Collette laughed, “he was sitting on the ground and she was almost dragging him along. And then I think you poured the rest of your soda on his head.”

“I probably did,” Carrie agreed, “I was so angry I couldn’t even see straight.”

But then there were the better recollections of “The Group,” and the ever-illusive mystery of “The Dude,” which ended up being Snuffleuffagus, of course. Sitting on the hale bales in the field next door up on the hill,

“Until Relevance caught us and made us leave!” Carrie said, resentfully, who was still convinced that he had ruined her life by marrying her best friend.

“I’m going to write a book,” she often said, “called: Kitts Ruined my Life.”

And for Monday evening Dad came home to finish off the last of the Girl Scout cookies (which were his favorites) as Carrie was not there for what she called – “Intervention!” And there was another sitting of wonderful corned beef and potatoes for dinner as the cold turned even more bitter. And as the older ones migrated downstairs to watch Logan’s Run, they laughed themselves silly and groaned more than a few times, “I can’t believe they just showed that,” while the freezing rain and snow began to come in, pelting the ground.

But by Tuesday morning, there were snow days for everyone (minus Joe and Rose, of course) and OLeif was too tired to get up before seven, and looked rather like a starfish which had decided to flop down flat and refuse to move.

And the trip was still on schedule for Grandma, Mom, Carrie-Bri, Frances, and Linnea to head on down to the enchanted land – to climb mountains, explore Indian cave dwellings, drive through little New Mexican villages, and look around Santa Fe.

Additionally, there were plans to attend a concert that night at the Creepy Crawl, as a friend of Magnus’ (Gavin Rolfe) was playing bass in a band for the evening. And the day stayed gray from beginning to end; Collette thought the combination of the beautiful white snow on the branches a startlingly beautiful contrast to the deep gray of the sky.

Grandma, Mom, Carrie, and the kids would be staying overnight in Dodge City and Dad would spend a quiet evening at home with Joe while OLeif and Collette took the Rose and Shakespeare to the Creepy Crawl. Collette thought she might like a soda there or something fizzy to drink. However, what she really had a hankering for that afternoon, was a shiny mint marzipan creature, just as she saw back in Budapest. And there was no way to find it here, sadly, not that she had seen. But it was worth thinking over to remember how good the mint had been in that marzipan cake – never had she tasted anything so delicious. A twelve-layer torte with mint marzipan. Of course Hungary had introduced a number of wonderful things to her, none of which she was likely to forget any time soon.

“The seed of every sin known to men dwells in my heart.” – S. Ferguson